The Agriculture Appeals Office disallowed an appeal made by a farmer as a well used for the extraction of water was not registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The case was outlined in the Agriculture Appeals Office 2024 annual report which showed that 483 appeals were made by farmers in relation to farm schemes last year.

Established in 2002, the office provides an appeals service to farmers who are not satisfied with decisions of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) concerning designated schemes operated by the department.

636 appeals were brought to a conclusion throughout the year, down from the 652 closed in 2023, but above the ten-year average of 628.

Conditionality sets the baseline requirements for farmers in receipt of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments and replaced the “cross compliance” requirements in the previous CAP.

One of the ways in which conditionality requirements are implemented is Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs).

DAFM highlighted that SMR 1 includes controls over the abstraction of fresh surface water and groundwater including on-farm abstractions and the establishment of a register for water abstractions.

Following an inspection, the department identified that the volume of water being extracted from a well on the farm in question exceeded the 25m³ per day threshold. The well had not been registered with the EPA.

The department position was that a lack of awareness of a requirement does not excuse a person from responsibility for failure to implement that requirement.

The appeal submitted to the Agriculture Appeals Office noted that the requirement to register wells was first introduced under the 2023 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) Scheme and was contained in the handbook for conditionality requirements.

The farmer stated that he did not receive a copy of the handbook and that he was unaware of the requirement.

He claimed that there is a total lack of knowledge of this requirement among the farming community and this is reflected in the very small number of well registrations.

He added that this was the only deficiency found at a full conditionality inspection.

The farmer said the introduction of the BISS and other new schemes in 2023 involved significant changes and this minor requirement was overlooked.

In deciding to disallow the appeal, the appeals officer said that it is outlined in the BISS terms and conditions that these should be read in conjunction with the handbook for conditionality requirements.

"On that basis there are no grounds for overturning the decision of the department," the report said.